Binoculars and stereomicroscopes have been known and used for many hundreds of years. In the design of binoculars, particular care is taken to ensure that the two optic axes of the individual telescopes are parallel to each other. There are known in the patent literature, however, stereomicroscopes which permit the distance between the eyepieces to be adjusted to accomodate different pupillary distances of different users. Examples of such stereomicroscopes are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,914,212 (Ott), 1,637,563 (Gary) and 2,087,329 (Ott). There are also known stereomicroscopes which employ converging light paths, such as microscopes of the Greenough type in which the angle between the microscope tubes may be adjustable.
It may be perceived by users of binoculars and microscopes that magnification produces distortion of depth perception of the object. Thus an object seen through binoculars appears flattened. Objects seen through stereomicroscopes may also seem distorted; i.e. they may have either exaggerated or flattened depth appearance. Applicant is not aware of any proposed solution of this problem.